Cooties
by KuriQuinn
Summary: As the years inch by, the competition between them becomes more and more apparent. It's entirely good-natured on Sakura's side, but the same can definitely not be said for Sasuke. He is as intense in his dislike of her as he is in his love for his brother and parents.


**Disclaimer:** This story utilises characters, situations and premises that are copyright Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Shonen Jump and Viz media. No infringement on their respective copyrights pertaining to episodes, novelisations, comics or short stories is intended by KuriQuinn in any way, shape or form. This fan-oriented story is written solely for the author's own amusement and the entertainment of the readers. It is not for profit. Any resemblance to real organizations, institutions, products or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

 **All plot and Original Characters except for those introduced in the canon books, manga, video games, novelizations and anime, are the sole creation of KuriQuinn. (© KuriQuinn 2016- )**

 **Rating:** T

 **Warning:** Slight OOC but only since the characters are from an alternate timeline.

 **Canon-Compliance:** None. Alternate Reality / Alternate Timeline ( _Meanwhiles & Neverweres 'Verse)_

 **Beta Reader** : Sakura's Unicorn

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha is convinced that Sakura Haruno is a demon.

From her ridiculously coloured hair to her too-bright eyes to the way she walks around with a straight back, exuding total confidence in a way none of the other kids do. Unlike the other girls who silently clamour to sit beside him on their first day at the Academy, she chooses a seat at the very front of the class and reads what looks like an instructional scroll until their instructor arrives. When she notices him staring at her, she looks up and smiles in a way that makes the whole room feel uncomfortably warm—like he's her very favourite person in the world, even though they've never actually met.

Sasuke decides right then that there is something about her he doesn't trust.

It turns out his instincts on this one are good because she's _weird._

Several mornings into the new academic year, Sasuke waits in the classroom, anticipating the moment when the first students start to trickle in and another tedious day of lessons begins. The peace of the morning is abruptly broken by hurried footsteps and a slamming door. Before he can react, he is cornered by a flushed and panting girl who boldly plants herself barely two feet away from him.

He, of course, knows her from class, but they've never even exchanged two words before. Yet, she addresses him as if they know each other well.

"Sasuke, there's something I have to tell you because I might not get another chance," she declares without even introducing herself. For a moment, she hesitates. It's like the words are stuck in her throat, but then she squares her shoulders. "I have feelings for you—" Which brings him up short because theirs is a short acquaintance, and it's the first time any member of the female species has said something like this to him. "—but I can't spend my time chasing after you. I have to become a powerful shinobi, and if I'm focussed on you right now, it will take me longer. Just remember that, okay?"

And then she takes off again, leaving him utterly perplexed.

And annoyed.

Sasuke doesn't have much patience for practical jokes, if this is what her outburst was, and he has even less for people who waste his time. Her little declaration serves no actual point that he can discern, and yet it feels like there is a significance to it. Something beyond the strange confession, like she's trying to offer him some secret message.

Something more than a notion as ridiculous as _feelings_.

He spends an entire hour puzzling over it before gravely deciding he's too important to be thinking of such things. She said she won't pay attention to him, and he takes that as an indication that he won't be bothered by any more of her strangeness. The matter is safely stored in the back of his mind, phased out in favour of wheedling training sessions from Itachi and telling his parents about his successes in class.

But Sakura Haruno has the inconvenient, irritating talent of being noticed. And it's not just because of her hair, but her general temperament. During breaks, she is kind to everyone she speaks to, breaks up disagreements, and quietly re-explains Iruka's lessons if her seatmate (usually Naruto) begins to flounder.

At first, Sasuke resolutely pays her no mind; she's no challenge to him, after all. From what he's heard, her parents never made it past chūnin, she's not from an official shinobi clan, and being _nice_ isn't going to make her a good ninja. Sure, over time, he becomes aware that she's one of the other students Iruka tends to compliment on ability or efficiency besides him—Ino and Shino are as well—but that's it.

But then Iruka starts to ask her to come to the front of the class to demonstrate problems on the board. Or show other students proper kunai-throwing techniques. In fact, in this respect, their teacher praises her more than he does Sasuke.

And that needles at him.

The fact that it's someone he doesn't like who excels as well as he does is vaguely irritating, but it's still something he can shrug off. After all, he supposes blood doesn't _always_ determine ability—look at Naruto. He's the son of the Fourth Hokage and an Uzumaki, a clan known for their immense power, and yet, he's a talentless loser. And Shikamaru is probably smarter than all of them put together, but he has the lowest scores in the class.

The whole issue with Sakura Haruno is a fluke, nothing worth acknowledging.

Until their first evaluations come in.

Sasuke fully expects to be at the top of the class; in fact, by his calculations, he is. Except when Iruka gets up to announce the results, it's Sakura's name that he proudly writes on the blackboard, not Sasuke's.

It is as if his stomach has turned to lead.

While their classmates congratulate the flustered girl, Sasuke tries desperately to figure out how she beat him. She's talented, sure, but he's _Uchiha_. His father is the police captain, his mother is a skilled jōnin, and his brother was the youngest graduate from the Academy since the hero Kakashi Hatake. The way of the shinobi should not come more easily to her, so _why_ is this nobody proving a challenge to him?

No answer presents itself other than the fact that maybe, just maybe, he hasn't been putting the right effort into achieving his potential.

From that moment on, Sasuke vows to beat Sakura at all costs.

He flings himself into his studies, something he never expected to have to do, and intensifies his training regimen. He observes her during taijutsu exercises, cataloguing her (admittedly few) weaknesses, and races to complete classwork faster and better than she does. He even takes to sitting up front with her, if only to keep track of her progress in relation to his own. It means sitting with Naruto, too, because for some reason, she's friends with the loser, but he accepts this as a necessary evil.

It always makes him look better by comparison, so it works out.

At first, Sakura seems confused by his attention, even puzzled. But over time, she starts to react to his obvious ire with something like…delight?

It's strange and weird, and not knowing why she has that reaction makes him even angrier. He thinks she has an ulterior motive of some kind. Perhaps she isn't as nice as people think because no one is _happy_ to have someone dislike them.

As the years inch by, the competition between them becomes more and more apparent.

It's entirely good-natured on Sakura's side, but the same cannot be said for Sasuke. From a young age, he has a tendency toward grudges, and his feelings radiate from the core of his heart to the tips of fingers. He is as intense in his dislike of her as he is in his love for his brother and parents.

"I don't get it," Naruto says one day in class when Iruka partners them together for sparring. "She's nice to everyone, even the girls who make fun of her. How can you _not_ like her?"

Which Sasuke doesn't answer, instead he soundly pummels the Hokage's kid to the ground.

He'll probably get reprimanded for it later. Father will look disapproving, and Mother will complain that she now has to apologise to Aunt Kushina on his behalf. And the next time Sasuke sees him, Cousin Obito will give him some long-winded lecture about friendship and respect, end with a final, "Try not to kill my sensei's kid, okay?"

But it's worth it.

Besides, it's not like the popular boy can't take a beating every once in a while. And answering Naruto would mean admitting that Sasuke considers Sakura a rival which would mean acknowledging her existence out loud. He refuses to stoop to that level.

But the enmity is there nonetheless, and the rewards thereof fluctuates between them.

One day, Sasuke is at the head of their class in _Kawarimi_ , but the next day, Sakura produces not one, but three consecutive substitutions during a game of capture-the-flag, thereby securing a win for her team. On another day, Sakura has all her mathematics homework done perfectly, and Iruka has her name up on the board _again_. So, Sasuke stays up the whole night, wrestling wildly with the confusing symbols and equations until his sums are _perfect_ , earning the coveted spot as top student. He even manages to repeat this for three weeks straight.

The girls praise him and the boys mutter, and he pretends like it was no effort at all. Sakura shrugs, and goes back to whatever scroll she's studying this week.

Sasuke's streak comes to an end when they begin learning about chakra control. Here, he finds a difficulty that can't be fixed by mere memorization and repetition. Here, Sakura is the clear master, and again Iruka has her go around to the other kids who need help; she spends almost her entire afternoon trying to explain to Naruto what he's doing wrong.

Sasuke resolutely tunes out everything she is saying, insistent that he will figure it all out on his own. When she comes by to offer him assistance, he barks out, "I'm fine. Go help someone who needs it."

"Well, if you're sure," she tells him, and then moves on to one of their other classmates.

 _She doesn't even get mad? What the hell is wrong with this girl?_

By the end of the day, he manages to get a handle on it—not as well as she can do it, but better than the rest of his class—and he feels some small measure of vindication.

Then there's the day when they both achieve a perfect score on their latest evaluation module: word problems, taijutsu forms, and even a Rope Untying Jutsu. After announcing their joint results, Iruka puts both their names up on the blackboard beside one another. The boys hoot and make catcalls, the girls whisper mutinously, and at lunch, some idiot (he's pretty sure it's Kiba) draws a heart around their names.

Sakura appears mortified, and Sasuke is furious.

The girls throw a fit and are quick to erase the offending drawing, turning on Sakura as if she's responsible. Naruto spends the walk toward the Uchiha Compound (he sometimes stays with Obito and Rin when his parents are away) loudly complaining to Sasuke, as if it's his fault it happened.

"She's the only girl in the entire school whose name you actually remember," he rants. " _Of course_ people are gonna tease you! Which makes it harder for people who actually _like_ her to get noticed!"

Naruto's crush on Sakura is pathetic, and Sasuke tells him so. Which may or may not result in them pounding the hell out of each other before arriving at his cousin's house a mess of bruises and cuts.

"I feel like I'm reliving the past," Obito laughs while Rin heals the worst of their injuries. Sasuke is thankful for this because he doesn't relish the idea of having to explain them to his mother. "The only thing missing are a pair of goggles and those crappy books!"

"What books?" Kashi pipes up curiously from where she's playing with a stuffed dog.

"Books you can read when you're eighteen," Rin tells her daughter sternly. The youngest Uchiha shrugs, unbothered, before going back to her toys.

Naruto sniggers. "If they're about girls then maybe Sasuke should read them now. That way, he can learn not to be an asshole to Sa— _ow! What the hell, you bastard?!"_

"Sasuke!" Rin snaps. "That was utterly uncalled for! Do you think your father would approve of that behaviour? And Naruto, if I hear language like that coming from you again, I'm going to have a conversation with your mother, and I guarantee you won't like the results."

Both boys turn pale at the respective threats.

"Oh, I have a feeling this is going to be the norm from now on," Obito muses, looking both too amused and too knowing for Sasuke's liking.

But the subject is dropped, and Sasuke makes a mental note to spend less time at his cousin's house from now on.

In class, his exploits continue.

Every month, they have a progress test to check their skill levels. Waiting for the results always ends up feeling like a week of pure torture. Especially because, for three months straight, Sakura ends up coming out _just_ ahead of Sasuke.

This fact is now a topic of dinner conversations, much to his mortification and fury.

Fugaku has been asking questions, wondering distantly why Sasuke isn't at the top of his class like Itachi was. Sasuke refuses to use the excuse of a civilian girl being better than him. Instead, he accepts his father's belief that he isn't working hard enough and redoubles his efforts. Every day, he wakes up even earlier, forces himself through any subject that he finds difficult just for the possibility of overtaking her in class.

Slowly, it pays off.

More often than before, Iruka stands at the front of the class, congratulating Sasuke on being the top student of the week. Then for the term. And it happens again the next month, and the next, and by the end of their penultimate year at the Academy, Sasuke is named Rookie of the Year.

He is smug and satisfied with the news. Finally, he has done what he set out to do, and expects to be treated accordingly. On the day the news is announced, he expects Sakura Haruno to be devastated.

But his moment of triumph falls utterly flat when, after class, Sakura comes up to him and beams. Her eyes shine with something that looks strangely like pride.

"Congratulations!" she says with genuine and obvious pleasure. "I know you worked really hard for this! You deserve it."

His chest feels warm and the blood rushes to his cheeks and he is _angry_.

He expected her to be resentful or even annoyed. Maybe he was hoping she would declare her own strategy to out-do him, or get angry at him, or do _something_ that shows she feels the sting of defeat the same way he does.

But there is nothing there but joy, and for whatever reason, this enrages him and the words are out of his mouth before he even understands what he's saying.

"Don't be annoying," he tells her coldly. "Your congratulations mean nothing to me. I beat you, therefore to me, you don't exist anymore."

There's a long, horrifying beat of silence.

And there it is.

Her face falls, the brightness in her eyes fades, and the smile disappears. For a brief, _brief_ instant, he sees an angry shadow cross her features.

He waits for her to lash out at him—she's done it before to Kiba or Naruto when they say something particularly obtuse, and she doesn't hold back on tongue-lashing when it comes to Ino. But then she smiles—an obviously false smiles—and quietly tells him, "I'm happy for you anyway, Sasuke."

Then walks away.

He tries to ignore the fact it feels like she takes all the colour out of the room when she leaves.

He doesn't see her for the rest of the day, or the next. She's not in class or the hallways, and there are whispers from the other kids that he pretends not to hear. A tiny, niggling feeling that might possibly be guilt begins to pick at him.

Even if it didn't, everyone he's on speaking terms with seems to have an opinion on the matter.

"I've never seen Sakura as upset as she was yesterday," Naruto tells him that morning. "She didn't say a word the rest of the day, and she didn't even wait for me to walk her home like she usually does."

"That just means she's finally gotten tired of your voice," Sasuke insists, but he's off-balance enough to succumb to a clumsy uppercut from his friend.

Ino corners him around lunch, shoving a finger in his face and snapping, "Just because I like you doesn't mean you get to be a jerk to my friend! You should apologise to Sakura!"

He turns and stalks away. " _Tch._."

Kashi, who's been attending classes at the Academy now since the beginning of the year, runs into him as he is heading home. With total solemnity, she informs him that he is a moron. Because, of course, Sakura is hugely popular with the younger students.

 _I don't care what they say_ , he insists, even if the words in his head are beginning to sound less and less certain.

He walks home by himself, realising that without Naruto or Kashi tagging along, he's alone with his thoughts. It's more than a relief when he encounters Itachi and their cousin Shisui in the courtyard outside the house.

"Sasuke," his brother greets, a gentle smile on his face. "I heard you made it to the top of your class this year."

Sasuke's heart lifts. He doesn't even question how his brother found out. "Yeah."

"Well done."

"Yeah, kid, that's pretty cool," Shisui tells him with a grin. "I guess you finally showed everyone that you're as smart as your big brother, huh? I bet you impressed that crush of yours, too."

Sasuke's brief elation evaporates.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he growls.

"Your little girlfriend. Aunt Mikoto says—"

"Shisui," Itachi warns, noting Sasuke's expression, just before his little brother snaps, "I don't have time for girls and definitely not for one who's so weird and smiles too much!"

Shisui sniggers, obviously not taking him seriously, and Itachi offers him a pandering smile.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, Sasuke. You could do a lot worse." He says this with a faraway, thoughtful look in his eyes, and Sasuke realises there's no point to defending himself further.

So, he decides to leave, but not without a parting shot and meaningful glare at Shisui. "You mean like you?"

The sound of two chokes of disbelief when he turns his back are totally worth it.

The victory is short-lived, however, because at dinner, it starts again.

"I had tea with Mebuki Haruno today," Mikoto chats brightly as she doles out second-helpings to her husband and sons. "She's mending our good clothes for Yakumi's wedding next month. She was telling me how excited her daughter, Sakura, is for summer. She's in your class, isn't she, Sasuke?"

"Hm." He shoves a tomato in his mouth to avoid a proper answer, but off his father's raised eyebrow, he swallows quickly and mutters, "Yes."

"We should have them over one afternoon," she continues. "They're such a nice family. And talented, from what I hear. Iruka says she and Sasuke are usually neck-and-neck in class."

Fugaku makes a noise of acknowledgement.

"That's impressive for a child without shinobi lineage," he points out, sipping his tea. "I would hope Sasuke isn't going easy on her because she's a girl. That devalues your abilities and hers."

"Oh, Sasuke would never do that," Mikoto protests. "I mean, maybe if he liked her, but— "

Sasuke jumps to his feet at his.

"May I be excused?" he asks but doesn't wait for the answer before stomping to his room. Upon shoving the shoji closed, he throws himself facedown on his bed in a sulk.

 _Even my parents!_

It's beyond frustrating that everywhere he turns today, he is destined to be reminded of Sakura. And the expression on her face when he said those words the day before.

Growling, he shoves his pillow over his head, as if that will drown out the memory of it. This is how Itachi finds him ten minutes later. He gently pries the pillow away.

"Are you all right?" he asks, and though his voice is quiet and without expectation of an actual answer, it's as if he's given Sasuke permission to open the floodgates.

"I don't understand why everyone is making such a big deal over this!" he cries, clenching his fists. "Everyone tells me how I feel and they don't listen when I tell them I don't like Sakura! She ruins everything! She's always in the way, and when I finally beat her—when I finally get what I've been working so hard for, all anyone can talk about is _her_! Just for once, I want someone to…to…"

He trails off, words utterly failing him in his frustration.

"Acknowledge you?" Itachi supplies.

Sasuke blinks. "…Yeah."

"May I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"When you were named Rookie of the Year, how did Sakura react?" Itachi questions. "Was she upset?"

"No," Sasuke mutters. "She congratulated me."

"That was rather graceful," Itachi says mildly. "It's a measure of character when someone can accept defeat with ease. And even be magnanimous to the person who has beaten them. Can you think of anyone else who would react in such a way?"

"No…but that doesn't matter!" Sasuke protests. "She's weird! She never reacts how normal people react! And the whole time, it's like she was happy that I was beating her, and that's just not _normal_!"

"She was happy for you," Itachi repeats. "Proud, even, would you say?"

"I…yeah, I guess."

"Isn't that what you wanted from the beginning? For her to acknowledge you?" Sasuke opens his mouth to correct him, but Itachi goes on, "Acknowledgement doesn't have to mean ceding to a superior in battle. Sometimes, it can be as simple as a kind word."

Which Sasuke can't think of a way to argue against.

Now the guilty feeling is back, and with a vengeance. He shifts uncomfortably. "Hey…Itachi?"

"Yes?"

"Did you ever have this problem before? With Izumi?"

A rare expression of discomfort passes over Itachi's face.

"That is a story for another time." He reaches his hand out and waves his fingers, indicating his little brother should come closer. Sasuke frowns suspiciously, but inches forward only to jerk back when—of course—Itachi pokes him in the forehead. "For now, little brother, I think there's someone else who you owe at least a conversation."

Despite the last word, Sasuke knows his brother really means _apology_. The trouble is, he's never had to _give_ one before, so he's unsure what to do. Maybe there's a way he can get around actually giving one, but whatever he does, he's going to have to face Sakura.

At the brief feeling of doubt, he frowns at himself.

He is to be a shinobi one day, and if he can't handle talking to _one_ girl, then he might as well give up on the whole thing now.

He wastes no more time slipping out of his room ( he doesn't think his parents will be so keen on letting him go anywhere given his abrupt departure from dinner) and heads for her house. He's never been there before, but Naruto has pointed it out to him on more than one occasion over the years, and he's memorised the location against his will.

When he knocks tentatively on the door, he's barely given a moment to prepare a story before it's flung open and a kind-faced woman with blonde hair stands before him.

"Yes?" she asks and then blinks at him. "Oh, goodness! You look just like Mikoto. You must be Sasuke then. Come in!"

Before he can marvel at the speed with which she comes to this conclusion, he's ushered into the house.

"Sakura talks about you a lot," Sakura's mother tells him cheerily. "So, even if you didn't look the spit of your mother, I'd know who you are. I hear you just got top of the class. That's great! She was a little upset yesterday—I guess no one likes to be bumped down to second place—but she's really happy for you. I personally think it's good for her. She needs to take some time away from the books, you know? Go out and have some fun! But she's so studious all the time. And she's always down at the hospital, asking questions, wandering around the library. I don't know where she gets it from, I hated classes. And her dad, well, he's brilliant of course, but the attention span of a gnat. Have you eaten, sweetheart?"

Sasuke mouths wordlessly at this. "Uh…yes."

"Well, you look like you haven't. Do you want something?"

"I just…need to speak to Sakura," he manages to get out.

"Oh, she's upstairs. She should be resting, but I bet she's studying one of her scrolls again. You go tell her to knock it off," Mebuki tells him. "I'll fix up some tea and biscuits for you two, okay?" She nods into the hallway. "It's up the stairs, second door on the left." When he continues to stare, she makes a waving motion. "Well? What are you waiting for? _Shoo_!"

Sasuke decides he doesn't want to be subject to another barrage of rambling, so he hurries up the stairs, shaking his head.

 _No wonder she's so weird with a mother like that!_

He reaches the door to Sakura's room quickly, and for a moment, pauses in front of it. A sudden, overwhelming feeling of doubt hits him, and he wonders if this is what he is supposed to be doing after all. Maybe he should just wait to see her in class…

The idea of being watched as he apologises to her in front of their classmates makes his skin crawl.

 _No. Here is good. Simple and quick, and then I'll go home._

And so, he takes a steadying breath and pushes open the door.

There is a brief image of Sakura—her face red and wet—and is she crying? He did not sign up for her crying, maybe he should just—

"KYAAAH! Don't you knock?!"

A pillow is tossed at him and would hit him right in the face if he didn't duck.

"S-Sasuke?" he hears her say tentatively. When he recovers himself, he sees her face go from indignant to shocked to mortified. "Oh, my—I'm so sorry! I thought you were my mom!"

"So you threw something at her?" he inquires, studying her. He realises the reason her face is wet is because it's covered in sweat; perspiration soaks through her tunic. She is also positioning her body in front of something, which he thinks must have held her attention before he entered the room.

When she notices his eyes trying to see around her body, she frowns in consideration then motions for him to close the door. When he does, she shifts aside and gestures to the desk behind her. Or rather, what is on the desk behind her.

Sasuke realises that what she's been hiding is a bird. A hawk, actually.

Its right wing is twisted at an odd angle and some of its feathers are badly bent. The creature is arranged in a makeshift nest of papers and cloth in a shoebox, and every now and then, makes feeble cooing sounds. When Sasuke takes a tentative step forward, it turns a distrustful yellow eye on him.

"It flew into my window yesterday," Sakura explains. "I tried to heal him, but I put too much power into it and had to stop before I accidentally hurt him. But that kind of knocked me out, so that's why I wasn't in school today. Mom's been freaking out at me because I wouldn't tell her what happened, but he's not back to normal, so I thought I'd try again, only a little less because I really don't want a lecture again and…and why are you looking at me like that?"

He is staring at her in amazement, the kind that only just overrides his usual jealousy, because healing and medical ninjutsu are incredibly advanced and how does she even know what to do?

"There is something wrong with you," he informs her.

She tenses up. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, how are you real?" he demands. "People aren't like this! They aren't so… You're always nice and helpful and how do you have time to be like that when you're so busy doing stuff like _this_?"

He gestures to the bird on her desk which makes a weak noise of indignation.

Sakura smiles now, that odd, almost patronizing smile of hers, like she's somehow more mature than him. And not just in a four-months-older kind of way, but the way he's seen his brother and older cousins look at him.

"I study a lot," she tells him. "Not all of us are born geniuses, right?"

He can't think of a thing to say to this.

"Was there something you wanted?" she goes on, and then in a sharper tone, "I thought I didn't exist to you."

He shifts uncomfortably at this.

"I…might have…I mean…I shouldn't have…" Sasuke cringes because it shouldn't be this hard to get the words out. Taking a steadying breath, he blurts out, "I'm sorry."

An expression of absolute shock overtakes her features, and he finds—oddly enough—that it's not a bad look on her. When it morphs into genuine pleasure, a sense of relief fills him.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that," she says softly, a faraway look flitting through her eyes. "Thank you."

Sasuke can't help frowning at this because it all feels very backward. He feels as if he should be the one who's thanking her. And not just for congratulating him the day earlier.

 _Why does she always make me feel like things are out of order?_

Noticing the way he's watching her, she prompts, "What?"

"You're not like any of the other girls," he tells her, a minor accusatory note in his voice.

She smirks at this. "Because I don't make a big fuss over you?"

"No," he insists quickly, the back of his neck turning red because he sort of means _yes_.

She laughs.

"I told you when we started at the Academy," she reminds him. "I have feelings for you." This time, hearing those words makes his stomach flip a little. "But I can't let that get in the way of my training again. I'm going to become the most powerful kunoichi in the world one day. I'm going to help heal people and protect the ones who are precious to me. If I'm going to be ready, I have to put in the work now."

And _that_ , at least, is something he can understand. The need to become stronger, the need to live up to expectations, either one's own or one's family's. It's possible that maybe, just maybe, he and Sakura have more in common than he considered.

"Besides," she adds, matter-of-factly, "if I'm going to marry you one day, I have to be the best."

Sasuke's brain stalls at this and he has to repeat her words in his head. "…Huh?!"

"Well, you're an Uchiha," she shrugs. "They're not going to let you marry just anyone. I have to be better than everyone else, even all those talented girls in your clan."

Sasuke scowls and crosses his arms. "No one is going to _let_ me do anything. I can marry whoever I want. And even if I cared about that sort of thing, it wouldn't be you."

She shoots him a taunting look of disbelief, and he straightens up, fists now clenched.

"In fact, I'm going to become an even better shinobi—much more powerful than you'll ever be. And then you'll never be able to marry me!"

It's not his strongest argument, he's aware, but he just wants to provoke a reaction.

Instead, she considers him thoughtfully, the way his mother and brother look at him when he's being stubborn or ridiculous. Then she tosses her hair and says, "Well, I guess there's always Naruto."

Sasuke sputters out an incomprehensible word and Sakura dissolves into a fit of giggles.

"Your face!" she cackles.

Sasuke's entire body turn warm, and he should be annoyed, because _no one_ mocks an Uchiha, but at the same time, he likes the sound of her laughter. It occurs to him that he doesn't hear it very often. She is generous with her smiles, but he's never heard her actually laugh around anyone in their class.

Slowly, the peals of laughter subside, and she calms herself. "Don't worry," she tells him. "I wouldn't want you to do something you don't want. And who says I'll ever get married? Lady Tsunade never got married and she's one of the Sannin. Maybe I'll be like her. There are worse things." Something dark and pained crosses her features here, and in a quiet voice she adds, "I just want the people I care about to be happy." Then she brightens up. "And that includes you, whether you like it or not." Without waiting for his reply, she turns around and refocuses on the bird, reaching down with her tiny hands to check its wing.

Sasuke really has no idea what to say to this. This girl—this strange, utterly mystifying girl— keeps tripping him up. Just when he thinks he's figured her out, she says something or does something that completely alters his perception of her.

It's still utterly annoying.

For once, he wants to say something or do something that puts her off-balance. She's always so resilient, always so sure of everything around her, as if she already knows exactly how things are going to turn out.

Perhaps that's why he gives in to the first rash idea that comes to mind.

"Hey, Sakura."

"Hm?"

When she turns to face him, quick as a snake, he leans over and closes the distance between them, pressing his mouth to hers. It's a brief peck, and it's clumsy—he only catches the corner of her mouth- but she freezes, entire body going utterly tense, and he can't help do the same because _he just kissed a girl on the mouth_.

He pulls back, half-shocked, half-impressed by his own daring, and stares at her. Sakura's eyes are wide, and slowly, ever so slowly, her face turns darker and darker, steadily matching her hair.

"S-Sasuke," she whispers like she isn't sure how to use her voice. "Why did you…"

"I don't know," he snaps, suddenly feeling the pressing need to get out of there. He backs away from her, narrowing his eyes threateningly. "If you tell anyone…"

"I-I won't." Sakura still seems too surprised and disbelieving. Maybe, if he's lucky, she'll think she imagined the whole thing.

Just in case she doesn't, however, he jabs a finger at her when he reaches the door. "And this doesn't mean I'm ever going to marry you!"

Without waiting for an answer, he yanks open the door and runs down the hallway, nearly knocking into Mebuki as she carries a tray of snacks up the stairs. He is desperate to get out of this weird house with its even weirder women and away from the strange girl who makes him do strange things.

Out the door and down the road, Sasuke coaches himself to run faster, to not stop until he's back home where things always make sense. His mouth tingles oddly (not unpleasantly) and he feels the blood rushing to his face. He knows it's not because he is running.

He doesn't know what school is going to be like from now on. She might not say anything— he doubts she will; Sakura isn't the type to embarrass people-but how is he supposed to look at her from now on? Was a brief moment of her being utterly stunned worth trying something so…ridiculous?

He casts his mind back, the image of her shocked, flustered expression permanently imprinted on his mind. A wan smirk of satisfaction tugs at the corner of his mouth.

 _Yes. Yes, it was._

Maybe he has found a new way to put her off balance after all.

終わり

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 _Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome! I'm only able to keep writing as I do thanks to the encouragement of readers like you, so every bit of support helps! And be sure to check out my tumblr (Typewriter Ninjutsu) for content you won't necessarily find on this site._

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